Apple weekly options active as shares drop $5. The stock down 2.5% to $188.55 on reports of iPhone production cuts and more than 6K Nov 23rd 195 calls changed hands. Nov 23rd 187.5 puts, 190 calls, and 205 calls are drawing interest as well. 43K calls and 25K puts trade in the early minutes. More than half of the contracts are 11/23 options that expire in four days, which includes just three and a half trading days (including today) this week because of the holiday Thursday and early market closure Friday. Apple Dec 220 - 225 call spreads also seeing interest Monday morning, for 15c, 2.5K so far.

Intel to benefit from market expansion with higher multiples, says MKM Partners. MKM Partners analyst Ruben Roy kept his Buy rating and $58 price target on Intel, saying he maintain a positive outlook on its shares in spite of the "increasingly volatile environment for semiconductor stocks". The analyst further notes that the bears are focused on the "increasing competition and tougher compares" going into 2019, but he sees the company benefiting from expanding total addressable market in data-centric end markets, leading Intel to higher multiples.

Catch up on the weekend's top five stories with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. PG&E (PCG), facing investor concerns over its possible role in the deadly Camp Fire in Northern California, has reported another power-line outage that it experienced on the morning of November 8 when the blaze started, according to Reuters. The incident report said a line near the area of Concow in Butte County suffered an outage at 6:45 a.m. on November 8, the publication noted. 2. After CBS (CBS) CEO Les Moonves' downfall on sexual-assault allegations, insiders said the TV giant's board could announce a merger with Viacom (VIAB) in the next three to six months, a deal that Moonves had fiercely resisted, according to The New York Post. "I would be surprised if we are sitting around in March and CBS and Viacom are not combined," said one media executive close to the situation. 3. Store chains have been learning lessons from Amazon's (AMZN) success and investing in e-commerce fulfillment, and for stores that struggle now, the problem is them, not the economy or Amazon, Jack Hough wrote in this week's edition of Barron's. To find likely winners, stock investors should be cautious of malls, and of stores with a shortage of unique merchandise, while being bullish on those with digital savvy, the publication noted. Kohl's (KSS) and Target (TGT) appear poised to outperform, and Home Depot (HD) and Tiffany (TIF) are worth their premium valuations, while Best Buy (BBY) has had a heroic run, but now faces especially difficult sales comparisons versus last year, Hough contended. TJX (TJX) could cool, too and the outlook is not promising for J.C. Penney (JCP) and L Brands (LB), he added. 4. AT&T (T) subsidiary Warner Bros' "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" debuted to $62.2M from 4,163 theaters. Overseas, the movie roared to $191M from 79 markets. The sequel earned a B+ CinemaScore and sports a 40% Rotten Tomatoes score. 5. BP (BP), Chevron (CVX), ExxonMobil (XOM), Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A), Anadarko Petroleum (APC), EOG Resources (EOG), Occidental Petroleum (OXY), Cabot Oil & Gas (COG), EQT (EQT), Halliburton (HAL), Schlumberger (SLB), Amgen (AMGN), and Treehouse Foods (THS) saw positive mentions in Barron's, while Apple (AAPL) was mentioned cautiously.

Apple CEO Tim Cook says tech companies should be aware that their products can be used for evil and believes new regulations are likely coming, according to Axios, citing an interview for "Axios on HBO." Reference Link

Apple's (AAPL) stock plunged 17% after being up nearly 40% through early October as cracks in the company's narrative began to form with the tech giant's earnings report earlier this month, Tae Kim writes in this week's edition of Barron's. For investors willing to connect the dots, the big clues came this week when two key suppliers, namely Lumentum (LITE) and Qorvo (QRVO), essentially singled out Apple for a sudden shortfall in component orders, the report notes. However, investors should probably wait to buy Apple stock until the Wall Street fully appreciates the company's weak product cycle, Kim contends. Reference Link